The New York Times reported that “As Russia Advances, NATO Considers Sending Trainers Into Ukraine,” in an article on May 16. The paper first writes that “Ukrainian officials have asked their American and NATO counterparts to help train 150,000 new recruits closer to the front line for faster deployment.” When Kyiv made that demand is not revealed, nor whether or when Ukraine would have that many new recruits.
“So far the U.S. has said no,” the Times authors say, but Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Charles Q. Brown said on May 16 that “We’ll get there eventually, over time,” he remarked in a briefing to reporters on Brown’s flight to Brussels for a NATO meeting that day.
Brown also acknowledged the trainers would be put at risk, and that the United States would be obligated to defend them against attack, “potentially dragging America into the war,” the Times conceded. Other media have since reported the same Times story.
